Almost four years on from Black Saturday, what does this year’s summer hold for Victoria?
Since Black Saturday
We’ve had some relatively mild summers since February/March 2009. Considering the tragedy of Black Saturday, that’s been a good thing as the Victorian community recovered from the trauma and heartbreak of our worst bushfires ever.
Most Recently
It’s only early October as I write this, but last Friday the CFA were kept busy with our first higher-temperature day of the season. They handled the day well, with good results under control quickly.
On the other hand, up in New South Wales on the same day, it wasn’t going quite so easy. The community of Wyee was endangered for at least a day, with cool weather on the Saturday bringing the needed assist.
Queensland and South Australia, too, had their share of work to do against bushfires as well over the weekend.
Again, it’s only early October. There’s still all the way through to March to get through yet.
SMEM
The social media aspect of emergencies is starting to improve greatly, with more and more emergency services adding Twitter and Facebook to their communications arsenals. Social Media Emergency (SMEM) is coming a long way since most of us had to think on our feet and learn at the deep end back in February 2009.
Then again, social media proved an asset in early 2011, with the amount of natural disasters hitting the Australasian/Oceania region in the first quarter of last year. Victoria, instead of having to face bushfires, instead faced floods, as did Queensland and especially Brisbane. Then came the Christchurch earthquake, followed by Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant problems.
The amount of Twitter and Facebook volunteers, in each of these countries or abroad, showed how social media could work with mainstream forms of emergency communication.
Complimentary Role Of Social Media
There’s definitely a complimentary role for social media to play in this field. Accent on the word complimentary…as it would be impractical to replace proven radio and other systems entirely with social media.
The Upcoming Season
Still, it’s hoped that the 2012/2013 summer brings less disaster than early 2011…I can remember being pooped completely after three months of having to relay emergency information on Twitter back then and I can tell you how exhausting it gets. That’s just the communications side…you can imagine how it would be for those in the front line, the firefighters, the emergency services (SES) people, nurses, doctors and police in any of the situations our region faced almost two years ago.
Also, just remember it’s up to each of us to be prepared and respect the conditions we have in such seasons. Fireready, firesafe.
And let’s hope the bushfire season in Australia is a quiet one.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Showing posts with label bushfire recovery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bushfire recovery. Show all posts
Monday, October 8, 2012
Monday, July 13, 2009
The Road To Kinglake, Phase Two...
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to go to Kinglake West, to film the Sustainable Building Workshop there.
It was my second visit to the Kinglake region in the past couple of months, the first done in daytime.
It's a better view in full light. You get to see the regrowth of grass, lush and green. By the same token, you also get a more detailed view of the extent of the destruction caused by February's bushfires.
It's when you get a couple of kilometres past Whittlesea that you begin to see the still-burnt trees, the homes still broken, bent, burnt or melted. Over to my right I could see one metal building still badly bent out of shape.
Admittedly, on this particular side of Kinglake, you get to see some areas that were untouched, or minorly-damaged, as opposed to the kilometres of burnt trees all the way from St. Andrews to Kinglake.
I finally reached the turnoff from the Whittlesea-Yea road to where I was going, stopping for five minutes to chat to the proprietor of the small milk bar/licensed post office that sits near the intersection. I later found out this small, temporary structure replaced the original shop which was destroyed back in February.
Because the workshop started after midday, I had sufficient time to take a quick trip to Kinglake Central, observing quietly everything I passed.
Pheasant Creek and the part of Kinglake West near it were relatively better than closer in to Kinglake Central. All along the drive one could see where dead trees had been moved from the road side and cut into lumber. Some properties I passed had caravans in them, a cold way to spend the winter while rebuilding. One property's gate was blackened and burnt and I had to wonder if anything was left further in that place.
Of course, there was the odd little Aussie flag flying from a tree stump or two, a determined statement about the Australian Spirit in adversity. And on the way back from that little jaunt, I also noted a hand-painted sign which read: "This is STILL our home."
On my previous trip, my family and I stopped at the Kinglake Diner for fish-and-chips and this time round, I stopped in for some directions. As I came out, I noted something I hadn't seen on the last, early-evening trip: next door to the diner and the other shop on the block, the trees were burnt. These shops were untouched, but they'd come incredibly close to disaster back in February.
After the workshop back at Kinglake West, I went out the back to look at the area behind and between the Hall and the CFA building. A sports reserve beckoned, clear and green. But over to my left, in the next property, a few half-blackened trees. I took a guess the CFA had worked hard to protect this particular patch and any people sheltering on that oval...but one could imagine they'd still had a fight on their hands doing it.
During breaks, I talked to some of the locals about some of the alternative building methods we were hearing about, but we also spoke about the effect of social media (Twitter et al) in an area where, at the time of Black Saturday, a substantial part of telecommunications was out of action or destroyed. I had often wondered if the bushfire-related tweets I and others had made back in February had gotten to the very people we were trying to help that day in this specific region. Everyone I talked to on this point agreed the current method of telecommunications has its limits when it can be adversely affected by natural disaster.
After the workshop, I took one last drive back into Kinglake before bidding it farewell for this trip.
Six months on, people are getting back into as much as they can, rebuilding where they can, adjusting to conditions. I feel a lot of them will feel a heck of a lot better once they've passed the first anniversary. But it's good to see they're still a determined bunch out there.
Yes, parts of that area are still blackened, parts of that area not yet fully-recovered from the scarring to the land. But that green starting to spring up is still a sign that regrowth is still a part of the cycle even after such a disaster.
Kinglake will get there. With our support, they'll get there.
It was my second visit to the Kinglake region in the past couple of months, the first done in daytime.
It's a better view in full light. You get to see the regrowth of grass, lush and green. By the same token, you also get a more detailed view of the extent of the destruction caused by February's bushfires.
It's when you get a couple of kilometres past Whittlesea that you begin to see the still-burnt trees, the homes still broken, bent, burnt or melted. Over to my right I could see one metal building still badly bent out of shape.
Admittedly, on this particular side of Kinglake, you get to see some areas that were untouched, or minorly-damaged, as opposed to the kilometres of burnt trees all the way from St. Andrews to Kinglake.
I finally reached the turnoff from the Whittlesea-Yea road to where I was going, stopping for five minutes to chat to the proprietor of the small milk bar/licensed post office that sits near the intersection. I later found out this small, temporary structure replaced the original shop which was destroyed back in February.
Because the workshop started after midday, I had sufficient time to take a quick trip to Kinglake Central, observing quietly everything I passed.Pheasant Creek and the part of Kinglake West near it were relatively better than closer in to Kinglake Central. All along the drive one could see where dead trees had been moved from the road side and cut into lumber. Some properties I passed had caravans in them, a cold way to spend the winter while rebuilding. One property's gate was blackened and burnt and I had to wonder if anything was left further in that place.
Of course, there was the odd little Aussie flag flying from a tree stump or two, a determined statement about the Australian Spirit in adversity. And on the way back from that little jaunt, I also noted a hand-painted sign which read: "This is STILL our home."
On my previous trip, my family and I stopped at the Kinglake Diner for fish-and-chips and this time round, I stopped in for some directions. As I came out, I noted something I hadn't seen on the last, early-evening trip: next door to the diner and the other shop on the block, the trees were burnt. These shops were untouched, but they'd come incredibly close to disaster back in February.
After the workshop back at Kinglake West, I went out the back to look at the area behind and between the Hall and the CFA building. A sports reserve beckoned, clear and green. But over to my left, in the next property, a few half-blackened trees. I took a guess the CFA had worked hard to protect this particular patch and any people sheltering on that oval...but one could imagine they'd still had a fight on their hands doing it.During breaks, I talked to some of the locals about some of the alternative building methods we were hearing about, but we also spoke about the effect of social media (Twitter et al) in an area where, at the time of Black Saturday, a substantial part of telecommunications was out of action or destroyed. I had often wondered if the bushfire-related tweets I and others had made back in February had gotten to the very people we were trying to help that day in this specific region. Everyone I talked to on this point agreed the current method of telecommunications has its limits when it can be adversely affected by natural disaster.
After the workshop, I took one last drive back into Kinglake before bidding it farewell for this trip.
Six months on, people are getting back into as much as they can, rebuilding where they can, adjusting to conditions. I feel a lot of them will feel a heck of a lot better once they've passed the first anniversary. But it's good to see they're still a determined bunch out there.
Yes, parts of that area are still blackened, parts of that area not yet fully-recovered from the scarring to the land. But that green starting to spring up is still a sign that regrowth is still a part of the cycle even after such a disaster.
Kinglake will get there. With our support, they'll get there.
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